In December
of 1999, I retired from a very rewarding career, in the
shipping industry, from a company I had worked at for
exactly thirty years. In the advent of my
retirement I had thought of where I might want to enjoy
my days of leisure. The obvious choice was
Guatemala because I was born there, have much family
there and I wanted to reacquaint myself with it.

What do you enjoy most
about retirement?

Without the
least doubt the very best thing about retirement is the
feeling of great freedom one feels. What I enjoy
most now that I am retired is to read. I now have
time to read for pleasure which I lacked when I worked
because when I had time, I always had professional
reading to catch up with.

From the
time we begin to do grownup things, like school, we are
always controlled by one type of schedule or another and
very little of our supposed own time is truly our own.
At first it is very nice because we depend upon the
ability of our seniors to guide us. As children we
have not acquired a sense of order or continuity but
later, as we get older and do acquire some sense of
organization, we would like very much to have more time
to do something that particularly interests us, like a
hobby, or to just daydream and plan the fantasies of our
future. But realistically, unless we become
hermits, we can never be totally free, nor would we want
to. I think that most of us like to have social
contact with others of equal or even different interests.
I am part of an American community in Antigua, Guatemala,
and a member of the American Legion, a group of ex
servicemen who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in times
of war. We sponsor an orphanage; we run a library;
and, sponsor a scholarship program for children too poor
to attend even the public school system.
Additionally we assist any tourist in distress.

As members
of a civilized society we will always have obligations to
that society which often dictates what, when and how we
might behave. But that in itself can be a pleasure.
Often friends determine when and where we might dine
together or perhaps determine the subject of conversation.
There are always some freedoms we forfeit as a price we
pay to belong to our society.

Where did you grow
up? What activities did you enjoy most as a child?

My father
worked for the United Nations field service also as a
radio operator. This required him to travel to
parts of the world which were in conflict. After a
period of training, he was posted to Jerusalem where the
U.N. was functioning as a peace keeper between Palestine
and the newly founded nation of Israel. That began
what would be many years of travel around the world.
In time, he was assigned to various countries around the
world. My parents, two sisters and I lived in
Jordan, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, and Kashmir to name
some. I have been told that if there were such a
thing as an official citizen of the world I may come
close to qualifying. In 1960, we emigrated from
Guatemala to California after my father decided to leave
the U.N. Some of the assignments required prolonged
separations of the family and did not fit the close
family style my parents favored.

The
adventure of being in so many countries and the exposure
to their cultures was wonderful but still, as children
will, I loved to play roles of fantasy inspired by books
or films. I was at various times a dashing knight,
a brave cowboy and a daring sailing captain. In
Srinagar, Kashmir we lived in a houseboat on the river
and I distinctively remember donning a cap, a sash, a
walking cane with a sword concealed in it and flying away
in my imagination to a river boat navigating perilous
waters.

How did being a "global
nomad", traveling so much and living in different
countries, impact your friendships and sense of community
when you were growing up?

Many of us
experience some things to which we want to maintain some
attachment like old neighbors, schoolmates, etc. I
was never like that because we traveled so much that it
was not an easy thing to do. Also, truly, knowing
that our stay was always temporary, unconsciously, we
tended to enter rather superficial relationships.
For that reason, I had never thought to join the American
Legion. It would associate me with strangers with
whom I only had in common having served my adopted
country.

When I did
join the American Legion Post (Chapter) in Antigua it was
only in response to a need expressed by an acquaintance
to increase their membership. It turned out to be
very rewarding. Although at first I agreed to fill
in a void in their group as a Vice Commander of the post,
I later declined the honor so as to assure myself of more
of that freedom I spoke of earlier. However, I
always make time for whatever I can do to help accomplish
the goals of the Post. That can mean simply
acquiring something the Orphanage needs, volunteer time
to run a library which we opened in the old city of
Antigua or translate for someone who does not speak
either Spanish or English.

One of the
noble programs the Post operates is a modest scholarship
program. There are some very, very poor people in
Guatemala. So poor that their primary concern is
acquiring the very basic things needed to survive.
They may live in makeshift housing of materials discarded
by others: wood, metal or even cardboard. Their
diet is that of absolute subsistence meaning that they
may not have enough to satisfy their nutritional needs
and barely their hunger. Often they are forced to
make their children work to increase their income.
Obviously then, they would have no money to send their
children to school, not even the public schools which
have the lowest demand for expenses. The state
fails to provide some of the basic materials for the
students so with the generosity of those who help us we
sponsor as many children as we can to at least get a very
fundamental education. Sadly, our funds are very
limited but if we can affect one single life we have
accomplished one tiny success.

Where were you born
and what country are you a citizen of?

I was born
in Guatemala and lived there until I was nine years old.
I was a self proclaimed citizen of the world for many
years and I adopted the U.S.A. as my country after I
served eight years in the Air Force. Since I have
returned to where I started from, I am now a dual citizen
of Guatemala and the U.S.A.

To most who
become citizens of a second country it is somewhat
dramatic. For me it was a conscious and significant
step but not as dramatic. Having lived in so many
different countries, and having passed through the U.S.A.
so many times the step was more symbolic than dramatic.
I had always known and admired the American way of life
but although Guatemala sounds (and actually is) an exotic
place, there is much of our American way of life evident.
For example, take the contrast of Antigua, the colonial
city I live close to. It is quite a step back in
time with its centuries old houses, ruins of old
cathedrals, convents and monasteries. Yet you can
walk over its cobblestone streets to your neighborhood
Burger King or McDonald's or call Domino's Pizza for a
guaranteed delivery within thirty minutes. On the
way you will walk past indigenous people wearing the same
costumes they have worn for centuries and might have even
woven them themselves.

When you were a child,
what did you dream of becoming? Did you follow that
path or do something different?

During those
thirty years in the shipping industry, I did many things
all of which enriched my person to some degree.
None of those things was what I once dreamt of doing.
The only thing that ever fascinated me was flying an
aircraft. For a period of time my father was a
radio operator aboard airplanes. That was long
before communications were as sophisticated as they are
today. Many times he took me with him on trips
around Guatemala and I was exposed to the miracle of
flying. Then there was no question in my mind as to
what I wanted to do the rest of my life. My dream
was denied me when I fell ill and was not able to
continue my studies in a military school which was
leading toward it.

My last
position was probably the most rewarding because it
seemed to have fit my personality the best. As a
Quality Administrator I was something of an internal
consultant and was called upon to use my teaching,
analytic and people skills. I taught principles and
application of managing with quality, audited functions
for compliance with those and mediated situations of
conflicts. As a secondary function, I oversaw a
program which called upon me to motivate employees to
sell the services for the company while performing their
daily tasks.

Did you ever think of
following a different career path?

As I grew
up, both chronologically and intellectually, I discovered
many things I might have chosen to follow as a career.
As I studied management I found that I was most
interested in human behavior and found to have a natural
instinct for the analysis of it. I find it
extremely rewarding to be able to help people find
themselves or answers to their problems. So yes, I
may have chosen to become a counselor or psychologist.

What do you do on your
ranch?

I live on a
"granja". The literal translation is
"grange" but more commonly it would be called a
ranch. Even so, it is not accurate unless you think
of it as a nonproductive ranch. It really is a
small house in a very large lot, about one and one half
acres in a wooded area. There are many fruit trees,
some rather exotic and some plain trees like pines.
It is situated in rather high land, about 4,500 feet
above sea level. I enjoy it immensely as a refuge
from the city life I have lived in for so many years.
There are many birds and butterflies plus squirrels with
which I share space. There are also some bats who
have invited themselves to share the area beneath my roof.
I see them leaving at dusk to search for insects to eat
and early morning when I contemplate the wonders of dawn
and their infinite shades of color, I see them returning
to their home above my living space. I call my
place "Vera Pax" which in Latin means, True
Peace. That is what I enjoy the most about living
there; I am in true peace and share it with nature around
me. In the mornings I walk around the woods and
feel very close to the earth. Once in a while I see
some of the other animals I share life with.

What education and
experience does a person need to follow your career path?

The jobs I
have held in my life are those which most people can do
and require no very specialized education. A
general formal education would prepare anyone to perform
what I did. When your mission is to attain the
highest possible levels of quality in whatever you do,
you need to accept that what you are actually doing is
attempting perfection. Someone might say that
perfection is impossible. I may not argue the point
but I would counter that attempting it and acting as
though it is possible is your goal.

What was your path to
your most recent occupation?

Soon after
we arrived in the United States, I joined the United
States Air Force. Retrospectively, I reasoned that
I wanted to be associated with airplanes. I was
assigned to work as a passenger service specialist, just
like a passenger service agent at a commercial airline.
That was my first realization that I wanted to cultivate
the people skills I spoke of earlier. I began
studying human behavior then.

How long were you in
the Air Force?

When I was
nineteen years old, after having spent a couple of years
living in Guatemala again, we emigrated to the U.S.A.
Soon after my arrival in San Francisco, California my new
home, I went to visit a recruiter to find out what
interesting possibilities were available to me in the U.S.A.F.
I found out that, different from today when you can pick
a specialty before joining, I would have to enlist,
receive basic training and then, based on aptitude tests,
would be assigned a specialty. My dream was to fly
an aircraft as I mentioned earlier so I joined. I
had been misinformed. Once in Basic Training I
found out that to fly one had to be an officer and to be
an officer you had to be a citizen of the U.S.A.
Contrary to what my recruiter had told me, my signed
declaration of intention to become a citizen was not
enough. Given the choice to continue as an enlisted
man in the specialty I was assigned or be released I
chose to stay to be trained as an Air Transportation
Specialist. I signed a four-year contract.

My first
assignment was to Tachikawa, Japan, a base, not too far
from Tokyo, for two years. It was a fantastic
experience in so many ways, too many to expound here.
I was reassigned to Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts
where my contract expired and having married decided to
reenlist for four more years (for a total of eight).
During that time I was assigned to Korea, Okinawa and
Viet Nam.

Why did you leave the
Air Force?

That brings
me full circle to your first question regarding my
retirement. When my second four years expired, I
saw myself in the exact situation my father was in when
he left the United Nations. Having married a
wonderful person with whom we brought two little girls to
the world, I could not continue to risk being separated
from them so I quit the U.S.A.F. and sought to work in
the air transportation field. I found my
professional home in The Flying Tiger Line, a cargo
airline later merged into Federal Express the company
from which I retired. It was very satisfying to
serve in the United States Air Force and the principles
for which it stood. I always thought of it as a
sort of payment in return for the privilege of living in
the U.S.A.

What were your
favorite subjects in school?

I enjoyed
language. There were two significant things about
it that I liked although I did not then recognize it.
One, it gave me an avenue to vent my thoughts and second,
and perhaps more revealing of my person, was that it was
subjective. Aside from the strict adherence to
grammatical rules, debating or writing was like a huge
ball of clay one could shape to one's contentment and the
product was one's own, unique.

What were your least
favorite subjects?

If you
accept my answer to what I liked, then it is easy to
understand what I did not.

Mathematics
and all its branches were too exact, too rigid. But
I did accept the need to understand it because very
little in life escapes some type of mathematics.
Unfortunately, it is not until so much later in life that
I understood that or I would have appreciated it and
liked it that much more.

Which subjects or
classroom activities had the biggest impact on your
future career?

Again, those
which were flexible enough to encourage exchange of ideas
and were not so definitively white or black.

What was your first
language? How many languages do you speak (and read
or understand)?

I recollect
with amusement the experience of being around different
languages. I was aware of the fact that different
people spoke different languages because we had servants
when I was a boy, some of who were native Guatemalan
Indians. My mother was raised in a family
plantation and they leaned the language of the workers
most of who were also Indian. I heard my mother
speak to them in their own language and was fascinated by
it.

Later in
life, when I lived in different countries, I continued to
be intrigued by them and always attempted to speak at
least some of the local languages. The amusement I
allude to is that when we arrived in Jerusalem, I went to
an English school with Arab children. The official
language was English, the local language was, of course,
Arabic and as second language we were taught French.
There came a point where I would say something and had to
take inventory of what language I had used.

I found
Arabic very easy to learn because it is much like
Spanish, my native tongue. In fact, owing to
Spain's history of being ruled by Arabs for many
centuries, modern Spanish still has many words which are
in fact, Arabic. French and Korean had the most
different sounds so they were not as easy to learn.

What advantages are
there in knowing more than one language?

It has
served me well to have spoken various languages in my
lifetime for various reasons. I was able to help
people who did not speak a local language I did speak.
It has often given me a clue to something which was not
obvious to someone who did not speak the language.
I often know where a person might be from either from
their name, their accent or even their demeanor.
Also, knowing another language identifies you with other
peoples as a member of their culture even. Finally,
but no less important, it gives me a better understanding
of my own language being that there are words commonly
used in our language which are in fact of another.
With so many tourists from all over the world visiting
Guatemala, I often regret not having retained my
knowledge of the languages I once spoke, Arabic, French,
Italian, Japanese and Korean.

What have you learned
from traveling to, and living in, other countries?

One thing
that I learned early, to my advantage, is that one must
travel with an open mind. I had no preconceptions
of what a city or a country would be other than what one
reads about. I dread criticism of a city or country
because it does not resemble the one an individual is
from. Regardless of where one originates from,
every place is unique and has its own charm and should
not be compared. My home in Guatemala is close to a
modern city and close to one which is hundreds of years
old but maintains its colonial character. It was
partially destroyed by natural disasters, a huge mudslide
and earthquakes. One can almost feel the different
ambiance upon entering the old city.

Do you have a favorite
quote?

There are
many things said by many wise persons. I enjoy and
respect them but rather than isolating some words I would
tell you that my predilection is toward those which say,
know yourself, accept yourself, respect yourself and
above all, love yourself.